


She lives (but the world is still a mess)

by Mardale



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: + some headcanons, Rhaenys Lives AU, a bit of all ships to be honest, a tiny bit of elia x rhaegar, a tiny tiny bit of elia x jaime, and lyanna x rhaegar, and then (hopefully) funny, but I don't, but i guess it is just how life is, but then somehow it got romantic, i can't write smutty things, i hope i did these characters some justice, i kind of hate rhaegar, it started kind of dramatic and heavy, maybe some humour?, no one will ever read these much hashtags anyway, no smut though, rhaenys and willas are my weakness and there is so little fanfiction, so i wrote my own, some happy robert x cersei for once?, sorry - Freeform, this is a collection of mashed together drabbles more than a full story, why do i bother?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-02-06 01:25:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12806550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mardale/pseuds/Mardale
Summary: Rhaenys lives, and oh what a life it is.spoilerquite a shitty one (at least at first)





	She lives (but the world is still a mess)

Rhaenys lives. 

She hears her mother scream and fight, hears her little brother cry. But mostly she hears her breath, and it seems like it is so loud everyone can hear it too.

Mama told to be quiet. 

The quieter she tries to be, the harder her heart pounds, the heavier her lungs are. She fears she will start crying just like Aegon. 

But then Balerion hugs his face to her face, and so she clungs to him, closes her eyes and buries her nose in his fur. It smells like dirty water and dust and smoke. 

Little brother isn’t crying anymore, Rhaenys notices. She can’t hear mama either. 

Mama will come in just a second, get her from under the bed and laugh, and say that Rhaenys is great at hiding, but she is even better at seeking. She will hug hear, and smell like oranges, and then she will maybe let her kiss little brother on the forehead and hold him. And maybe even papa will come?

Yes, Rhaenys thinks, papa must be coming back, and they want it to be a surprise. So papa will be the one to look under the bed, and hold her high and scratch her with his beard and let her play with his hair, that can’t get any messier than it already is.

There is some rumour, the sound of clashing swords, but Rhaenys doesn’t really notice. She was raised with guards everywhere, she is used to the sound of steel.

***

Jaime holds her in his arms. She is not dead, no, those eyes are as lively as ever. She tries to smile, but it is only visible in her eyes (he knows those eyes though, and so he smiles for both of them, while tears start to stream down his cheeks).

\- I am so sorry, Elia, I am so sorry, I should have been here sooner, I didn’t think anyone would harm you, why would they harm you!

She flinches as he shouts, and so he apologizes again, quieter, careful not to disturb her.

\- Forgive me.

He whispers. 

She swallows her saliva slowly, and opens her mouth. 

\- I…please..Rhae.

Those are her last words. He doesn’t even know when exactly she passes away. She just closes her eyes, and suddendly he can’t hear her weak breath anymore.

He holds her, runs his hands through her hair. Then he carefully places her son into her arms (she wouldn’t want the babe to lie on the cold floor all alone he thinks).

Then he cuts through Gregore Clegane’s remains until there is nothing remaining of him. 

Elia isn’t the one to find her daughter. Nor is it Rhaegar. Jaime is the person who discovers Rhaenys under the bed. 

She stares at him with her fierce eyes, so much like Elia’s, and he manages to somehow pronounce a few words: Can you come with me Rhaenys?

She slowly nods her head, and he takes both her and Balerion in his arms. 

He puts Rhaenys’ head against his chest and they go out of the Red Keep.

***

Rhaegar enters the city with Lyanna and their son. Normally people would stare at them curiously, gossip, shot glances and exchange mean or at least japing comments. It is what Rhaegar expects, truly, but much to his surprise, the inhabitants of King’s Landing are numb, uninterested. They seem tired, their heads hung low, and when they do raise their heads, their eyes are full of hatred and pain. But even their emotions are weaker, as if those people hated and suffered for so long that they don’t even have to vocalize it anymore.

They look, and he feels every bit wrong as he doesn’t know how to behave.

It is not my fault, he wants to scream, I am not the one who terrorized you, I want to be a good ruler, I do. I did not burn, and I won’t.

I am just a son of someone who did. 

Lyanna seems stressed too. She avoids looking anywhere besides Aegon, avoids looking at him, her husband as well. She is scared, he realizes, but she will never admit that.

It makes his heart warm, looking at her. They are together, his father is dead, it can only get better now, can’t it?

As he enters the throne room and sits on the Iron Throne for the first time, he catches himself holding his breath. He almost wants to laugh at himself. Elia would, was she here. 

Speaking of.

\- We will have time for welcomes and speeches my lords - he says to the court - but first, where is lady Elia and her children?

The people exchange looks and stares. He can’t blame them, it is a weird situation. And he already gathers the strength for the moment when he will have to tell Elia about the annulment. But he puts those thoughts aside. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is seeing his family again.

One of the lords rises and walks closer to the King. He clears his throat, and looks at Rhaegar with something between pity, sadness, and anger.

\- Queen Elia - he says with emphasis on the word “queen” - is dead. Murdered and raped, as she protected your - emphasis on the word “your” - children. 

Rhaegar stares at him, his eyes wide open, his mind struggling to accept what he just heard.

\- The children?

He pulls from his throat weakly.

That is when Jaime Lannister emerges from the crowd, Rhaenys in his arms. 

***

His daughter does not speak. 

He hugs her tightly, tells her how he missed her, but she remains silent. Not at all like the loud laughing daughter he knew several months ago. 

Rhaenys just looks at him, with eyes that seem like they are going to start watering in just a second. But she doesn’t cry. 

He presents her Lyanna after a few days, as well as their son.

\- This is your brother, Aegon.

That’s when her face expression changes for a milisecond, but she doesn’t say anything. She just nods, and then goes to Jaime Lannister.

Jaime Lannister who is always there, always in the same room as his daughter. Even when he, the King, announces very kindly that no, ser Jaime, your services are not needed, I can stay alone with my child, even then the only thing the Lannister does is standing outside the door instead of in front of it. 

He wonders if Rhaenys speaks to him.

***

Lyanna is now used to the way people look at her right before curtsying, used to the guards always watching, used to sitting for hours and hours on a small throne just next to Rhaegar. (She knows there is another small throne, just like hers, now hidden away, but not destroyed. Never destroyed. She and Rhaegar don’t talk about it.)

She no longer flinches at the thought of leaving Aegon with a sitter, but neverthles, the time when she finally be with her son is her favourite time of the day. 

As she enters the nursery, she notices Rhaenys standing next to her son’s crib. Lyanna forces herself to walk slowly, and not run and get this girl away from Aegon. Rhaegar’s daughter is odd, silent, and a stepdaughter like that is not any mother’s dream.

As Lyanna approaches the children, she notices than Rhaenys isn’t actually doing anything. Just staring at her brother intensly.

And then she lifts her brown eyes and stares right into Lyanna’s grey ones. She has never looked her stepmother in the eyes like that before. 

And that is when Rhaenys speaks.

\- This is not Aegon. 

She says it calmly, as if she was trying to explain something obvious.

\- Little brother Aegon is with my mama. But papa never knew little brother, and you didn’t either. That’s why you named this brother Aegon?

Lyanna feels blood coming to her face.

\- I am really sorry for what hapened to your mother and your other brother. But this - she gestures at her son - is your brother too. Do you understand?

Rhaenys looks at the baby in the crib.

\- Of course he is my brother.

She says like she was saying “Do you think I am stupid?”, and then smiles at her half brother.

\- But he is not Aegon. He is Jon. Just like you are not mama, but you are Lyanna. You can’t be two people at once. 

She shrugs her arms with a little smile, and then leaves the nursery. Lyanna notices Jaime Lannister standing in the door. She makes eye contact with him, but his face remains unchanged.

As she rocks her child in her arms, she looks at his black hair and fair skin.

Jon. She tries out the new name on her tongue. Jon Targaryen.

***

Rhaenys grows and so does Jon. So does Balerion as well. 

The cat hates everyone besides Rhaenys and to surprise of all, Jon. Only those two can pick him up, pet him and hug him without getting scratched to death. He ocasionally jumps on Lyanna’s lap, and sometimes rubs his head against any part of Jaime’s body. 

But he hates literally anyone else, especially the King. the nobles see Rhaegar with deep scratches on his face and hands at least a dozen times, and while no one says anything aloud, Rhaegar knows they laugh at him behind his back. 

Common people laugh at those stories as well, some claiming that the cat must be Elia Martell reborn. But as soon as the former queen’s name appears in the air, all the laughs die. 

Rhaegar knows that they all remember, and it pisses him of. Not that he hates the memory of his former wife, no, he just feels like they mention her just to spite him. They hated her, he thinks, when we first arrived here. Where does all this devotion come from now?

He thinks the answer is their lack of respect for him. And it kind of is. But Rhaegar Targaryen forgets about one thing: the memory of someone who suffered with you is thousand times stronger than the respect for someone who (willingly or not) caused this suffering.

But no matter how much they did or did not care about Elia, they all love the princess now. 

Maybe because she seems to want to know every high or low born she comes across, asking subtle questions about their families, joking and never ignoring. Maybe it is because she visits the poor, not scared to get her dresses a bit dirty. Maybe because it is said she is taught the art of poisons by the Red Viper.

Rhaegar knows that, and Rhaenys knows it too:

Westerosi hold the King’s daughter in higher regard than they do him.

When Rhaenys is fifteen, her father starts to consider possible matches for her. Rhaenys convinces him so that some more noble youths can come, and so Robb Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark,Theon Greyjoy, Willas Tyrell, Margaery Tyrell and Myrcella Baratheon come to the capitol.

They are her first real friends, and she only realises how much she longed for friends when they arrive.

Robb is honest and brave, Sansa sweet and elegant, Arya wild and sarcastic, Bran optimistic and wise, Theon cheeky and funny, Margaery cunning and smart, Myrcella quiet and empathetic. Rhaenys sometimes feels like she herself is just a puzzle made from pieces coming from her friends. And Jon is so happy to finally meet the other half of his family.

And then there is Willas Tyrell. 

He seems sad, but he is not brooding or negative. He laughs quite a lot, jokes, argues with them, does everything others do, but Rhaenys feels like there is always sadness deep down in him. She wants it gone, wants him to be happy with all his heart, not even a piece taken by melancholy.

Sometimes he looks at her, and she feels like he is able to see too much, and suddendly she is not a confident princess anymore. She feels like she doesn’t deserve that pure concern, that lovely way his face changes when he wants to ask her something, but then he chooses not to.

When she is seventeen, her father says he is close to making the decision about her bethrothal. He suggests Robb Stark.

Rhaenys tells that to Robb, and they both feel awkward. They are great friend, yes, but something just seems off. None of them say anything, they don’t want to offend each other. 

But as they walk through the gardens once, they spot Willas and Margaery close by, and as they look first at the Tyrells and then at each other, they just know. 

A few weeks later Robb and Margaery are announced bethrothed. 

Willas asks her if she as sad about Robb being in love with someone else, and Rhaenys shrugs her arms.

\- I am kind of glad. I could not love him just like he couldn’t love me.

Willas starts tapping his cane on the grounf, avoiding her eyes.

\- Why not?

She raises his chin so that they eyes meet.

\- Because.

She kisses him with a force she didn’t think she had. He doesn’t mind. 

As they break apart, he mutters against her lips.

\- Marry me.

Rhaenys laughs.

\- Was I that good?

He chuckles. but his eyes remain serious.

\- Will you?

\- I could do it right here right now.

***

\- Those Tyrells really know how to set themselves up. It could be different was Jeoffre invited to the court as well, you know that.

Robert Baratheon sighs.

\- They didn’t ask for him, was I supposed to leave him in King’s Landing without explanation and hope they would take him?

\- Well, if you did, maybe it would be our son’s wedding now.

\- Or maybe he would ruin Myrcella’s chance for a good match.

\- If you call a second son of a Stark a good match..

\- Still better then a Greyjoy.

Cersei sighs.

\- I guess you have a point. Sansa Stark won’t survive with this boy even a year, trust me. He is a whorelover and a Greyjoy, they just don’t stand a chance.

\- They same could be said for us Cersei.

\- No it couldn’t. I am no Sansa Stark. 

\- Obviously not, the girl is ginger and beautiful.

Willas can very well hear the Lord and Lady of Stormlands banter, and while normally it would amuse him, right now he is too nervous to show a sense of humour. He sees his sister smiling at him warmly, and his grandmother with a straight face that only the closest to her could read as a content one.

And then he sees Rhaenys in her gown of red and orange, and he can not see anyone else.

Jaime Lannister stands by the door, and as the newlyweds kiss, Brienne of Tarth approaches him.

\- Let’s hope she has a better marriage than her mother had.

Jaime squeezes her hand.

\- If she doesn’t, I will kill him with my own hands.

\- One hand. 

Brienne corrects him.

**Author's Note:**

> 1)It took me three hours to write this, and I should be studying. A comment would be nice.  
> 2)I am sorry if you are a fan of a character that I wrote badly about (don't think I was that big of a hater this time, but maybe I got the relationships between some characters wrong, or just different than you. don't kill me ok?)  
> 3)would you like an au for myrcella x bran? I kind of got into them lately, so I might write something Brancella oriented soon (is that their ship name by the way? or is it myran?)


End file.
